Being hit by a lorry or other large vehicle while you’re riding often results in serious injury or even death, which makes this dashcam clip of a 17-year-old Russian girl surviving a nightmare hit from a lorry as remarkable as it is stomach-churning.

According to the Express, Artem Droukov, 24, was driving behind the skip lorry when it ran over 17-year-old Natasha Balova in the Russian city of Zelenograd near Moscow.

Dourkov said: “I was driving behind the skip lorry when I saw this teenager get knocked off her bike and then run over.

“I thought she would be crushed flat but instead the truck bounced into the air and after lying on the ground for a short while screaming, she got up and really gave the driver a mouthful.

“I couldn’t believe it. She walked a bit unsteadily out of the side of the road and sat down and told him what she thought of him.”

Balova was taken to hospital — after making it very clear to the driver what she thought of his astonishingly dangerous driving — and found to have escaped with just bruises.

Her bike, however, was completely wrecked in the collision.

Police say they are considering charges against the driver.

Cyclists vs HGVs

In the UK, heavy vehicles are disproportionately represented in crashes resulting in deaths and serious injury of cyclists. In London they make up just 5 percent of traffic, but are involved in 50 percent of cyclist fatalities.

HGVs have also been cited as being disproportionately involved in crashes with female cyclists. On the whole, men are the victims of most cycling fatalities and sustain more serious injuries than women.

However, the report said there is evidence that women in the UK have a greater risk of being involved in a collision with an HGV than men.

It said: “The latest study into London's cycle hire scheme found that women were twice as likely to be involved in a fatal collision with an HGV, despite making up just 30% of the scheme’s participants.

“One theory is that, somewhat counterintuitively, this increased danger is actually due to women being less willing to take risks.

“A leaked TfL internal report suggests that women are less likely to jump red lights, meaning they are more likely to get caught in an HGV’s blind spot.

“One UK researcher has argued that many women wrongly perceive that overtaking an HGV on the left-hand side is less risky, possibly because they believe sticking close to the curb is safer. The researcher did find a statistically significant trend in women reporting to be “left-side overtakers”.”

However, it seems clear in this case that Natasha Balova was simply riding down the road and the truck driver didn’t avoid her or slow down enough to miss her.

How on EARTH did she walk away from that?! She looked to have been in primary position, but he leaves it far too late to move out, and then doesn't move anywhere near far enough. She may have moved out just before the impact, but if he'd left a decent gap it wouldn't matter.

I'd love to hear a translated version of what she said to him!

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice...

She had a very lucky escape. Skip lorries do pose a particular threat to other road users in this country and this appears to be the case in Russia also, though I know the death rate on the roads in Russia is also worryingly high.

The lorry is empty, so there'd be very little weight over the axles, especially the rear ones. If it'd been carrying a full skip, I imagine this would have had a different outcome.

Was she waiting to turn left? Difficult to tell how it happened from the video.

Watch again. Both front and rear wheels go over her so the fact the wagon is not carrying a skip is irrelevant. Skip wagons are constructed so that the load is carried by the rear axle with very little load transfer to the front axle (except under braking). Lets numberwang!

Assume empty skip wagon weighs 8Te and that there is a 60:40 split front:rear.
So working for front axle. 60% of 8Te is 4.8Te. Divide by 2 to get wheel loading = 2.4Te. Assuming contact patch of 0.06 square meter that gives you a loading of 2.4/0.06 = 40 tonnes per square meter.

Ok! A lot of assuming but I doubt I'm far from the truth. What we know for certain is that this girl is tough.